Questions to Ask Web Design Clients
Questions to ask web design clients before you quote or build, for designers and small agencies running a discovery call or sending a website questionnaire. They run in the order the conversation usually takes: the business and what the site has to do, the current site and what is wrong with it, pages and features, content and look, the platform, domain, hosting and search, then approval, deadline, budget and upkeep. Each question has a note of its own: the answer you are hoping for, the one that should slow you down, and what to do next.
Want questions from the whole vault instead? Try the random question generator.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Business
What does your business do, and where does most of the money come from?
Why ask it
The service that earns the most should get the best spot on the home page, and owners do not always mention it first. If the answer is a long list with no order, ask which one they would keep if they could keep only one. A client who cannot rank what they sell will struggle to rank what goes in the menu.
What is the one thing you most want a visitor to do on the site?
Why ask it
Call, book, buy, fill in a form, sign up: one of these becomes the button every page leads to. When the client lists several, ask which one pays the bills, design for that, and give the others smaller places.
What made you decide you need a new website now?
Why ask it
Something happened: a rebrand, a competitor's relaunch, a customer who said they could not find the phone number, a slow month for inquiries. Whatever it was is what the client will look at first on launch day, so write it down. 'It just looks old' deserves a follow-up: old next to whose?
Who is the site for, and what are they trying to get done when they arrive?
Why ask it
Listen for a real person with an errand: a parent checking opening hours on a phone, a buyer comparing three suppliers at a desk. A site aimed at 'everyone' has no way to choose what goes first, so when that is the reply, ask about the last three customers who got in touch.
Six months after launch, how will you tell whether the site was worth it?
Why ask it
Write the answer into the proposal in their words. Inquiries per week, bookings made without a phone call or fewer questions about prices can all be counted, which means you can both check. If the measure is that it 'looks more professional', ask who has to think so, since that person is your real audience for the design.
How do new customers find you today, and how many of them see the website on the way?
Why ask it
A business that lives on referrals needs a site that confirms what a friend already said: who you are, some evidence, a phone number. One that depends on search needs pages built around what people type. 'I'm not sure' is a reason to look at the visitor numbers together before you quote.
Why does a customer choose you over a competitor?
Why ask it
Press for something the site can show and not only say: a written guarantee, before-and-after photos, how many years they have been open, a callback the same day. An owner who is unsure can read a dozen of their own reviews with you and note what customers thank them for. That phrase, in the customer's wording, is a candidate for the home page headline.
Which competitors' websites do your customers look at before choosing you?
Why ask it
Open each one during the call and ask what the client thinks it does better and worse. You are after the comparison a customer makes, so that the new site answers it. Be wary if the brief turns into 'the same as theirs': say early that you will build for this business's customers, and ask what they would want done differently.
Which questions do you answer over and over on the phone or by email?
Why ask it
Each one is a line the site should already be answering: the price, the areas served, how long a job takes. Put this to whoever picks up the phone, since the owner may not hear them anymore. Collect the five most common and check how many the current site answers.
Are your visitors mostly on a phone, and where are they when they look you up?
Why ask it
Someone standing in a parking lot wants the address, the hours and a button that dials. Someone researching at work will read a long page. Check the answer against the visitor figures if there are any, because owners tend to picture the site on the large screen they approve it on.
Current site
What bothers you most about the current site, and what do customers complain about?
Why ask it
Keep the two lists apart. The owner's complaints are usually about looks, while customers complain that they could not find the price or that the form never sent. Fixing only the first list produces a prettier site with the same problems, so ask for an example of the second before you move on.
What on the current site works well and should carry over?
Why ask it
There is nearly always something: a page that ranks, a booking form the staff have learned, a photo regulars recognize. Getting it named protects it from the redesign. 'Nothing, start again' is worth checking against the visitor numbers before you believe it.
What is the current site built on, who built it, and are they still involved?
Why ask it
The platform decides whether this is a redesign, a move or a rebuild, and each is priced differently. Ask how things stand with the previous builder too: a friendly handover saves days, and one who has gone quiet may be the only person holding the files.
Which pages get the most visits or bring in the most inquiries?
Why ask it
Ask to see the figures, not the guess. The busiest page can turn out to be an old article or a price list nobody mentioned, and it needs to survive the move with its address intact. Where nothing has been measured, set that up before the redesign starts, so there is a before to compare with.
When something on the site needs changing today, what happens?
Why ask it
A good answer is a name and a few minutes. A worrying one is an email to someone who replies in a week, or a login nobody dares use. Whatever they describe is the thing the new setup has to beat, and it tells you how much editing they will really do themselves.
If you have had a website built before, how did it go, and where did it get stuck?
Why ask it
Stories about the last project show what this client is like to work for. Content that never arrived, comments from too many people, a builder who stopped answering: whichever it was, add a step to your process that deals with it and point to that step when you present the quote.
Scope
Which pages do you picture on the new site?
Why ask it
Draw the menu on paper while they talk, then turn it around and show them. Most clients name five or six and forget the ones nobody thinks of as pages: thank-you messages, a privacy page, a page for each service. Count the final list before you price, because page count is the number that quietly doubles.
What does the site need to do beyond showing information?
Why ask it
Bookings, payments, member logins, quote calculators and job listings are each a small project inside the project. For every one they name, ask how it is handled today and whether they already pay for a tool that does it. Connecting an existing tool is usually a different price from building the feature, so find out which they expect.
When someone sends the contact form, where should it go and who replies?
Why ask it
Follow the message all the way to a person. A shared inbox nobody checks on weekends makes a good site look like a bad business. Ask what should happen after hours and whether they want a copy stored somewhere, then test that exact route before launch.
What software do you already use that the site has to connect to?
Why ask it
Typical answers are a mailing list, a booking calendar, a customer database or an accounting package. Get the exact product names and the plan they are on, then check for yourself what each one allows, since that varies by provider and by plan. Treat 'it should just sync' as a warning that nobody has looked.
Will you sell anything through the site, at launch or later?
Why ask it
Selling online changes the platform choice, the price and the upkeep, so a 'maybe one day' matters now. A yes means a longer conversation about inventory, payment and delivery before you quote. For 'later', choose a setup that can take a shop without starting over, and say in writing that the shop is not in this price.
Will there be a blog, news or anything else that gets added to regularly?
Why ask it
Ask who will write it and how often they have published anything in the past year. A news page whose only post dates from launch week looks worse than no news page. Where there is enthusiasm but no writer, offer something smaller, such as recent projects with a photo and three lines each.
What has to be there on launch day, and what could wait for a second phase?
Why ask it
A client who can split the list is one you can give a firm date. Put the second phase in the proposal as its own line with its own price, so it is neither forgotten nor slipped into the first. When everything is essential, ask what they would cut if the launch were moved two weeks earlier.
Does the site need to work in more than one language, or cover more than one location?
Why ask it
Each language is close to a second site: someone has to translate it, check it and keep both in step. Ask who that someone is. For several locations, find out whether each has its own hours, phone number and staff, because that decides between one page with a list and a page apiece.
Are there accessibility, privacy or industry rules the site has to meet?
Why ask it
What applies depends on where the client operates and what field they are in, so do not answer this for them. Ask who advises them, such as a lawyer, a trade association or a compliance officer, and get any requirement in writing. A client who answers to a regulator or is publicly funded may have a written standard and a person who checks it, and you want that person's name.
Content and look
Is the text for each page already written, and if not, who will write it and by when?
Why ask it
A finished design can sit unlaunched for months waiting for words, so every page needs a writer and a date before you promise yours. 'We will do it ourselves' works when that person has hours set aside, which is worth asking about directly. With no writer in sight, quote for copywriting, or for an interview with the owner that you turn into copy.
What photos and video do you have, and who took them?
Why ask it
Ask to see them before you design around them. Phone pictures of real staff and real work often beat stock, but only at a usable size. Who took them matters because permission to use an image can sit with the photographer or the people in it, so have the client confirm in writing that they are free to use what they hand over.
Do you have the logo as original files, and are your colors and fonts written down anywhere?
Why ask it
A logo copied from the old site's header will blur on a sharp screen, so ask for the files the designer supplied or the name of whoever drew it. No written colors or fonts means you will be choosing them, which is design work to price and get approved before any page is drawn.
Which three websites do you like, from any industry, and what do you like about each?
Why ask it
Scroll through each one together and have them stop you where something appeals: the menu, the way prices are laid out, the photography. A link alone tells you little, because you cannot see which part they meant. If all three belong to companies many times their size, talk about what those sites cost to fill with photography and writing.
Is there a website you cannot stand, and what puts you off?
Why ask it
Pop-ups, video that plays by itself, tiny pale text, a banner that slides away before you can read it: write each complaint down as a rule for this project. Then ask whether their customers would mind too, since an owner's irritation and a visitor's are not always the same. If one of their dislikes is something you had planned, say so now and give your reason, or drop it.
What tone should the writing take, and is there anything you have written that already gets it right?
Why ask it
An email to a customer, a flyer or a social post in the right voice is a better brief than adjectives. Read a line aloud and ask whether that is how they talk to customers. A firm that says 'friendly' and then hands over copy full of 'solutions' needs to hear the two side by side.
Which customers would let you quote them or show the work you did for them?
Why ask it
Testimonials are slow to collect, so start now: ask whether permission has been given or still needs asking, and who will do the asking. A name, a town and a photo of the finished job are worth requesting along with the words. For reviews that live on another platform, read that platform's terms before copying them across.
How much of the existing content is moving to the new site, and who decides what goes?
Why ask it
Moving everything is the expensive default. Ask for a pass through the old pages with three marks: keep, rewrite, drop. Blog archives, old event pages and profiles of staff who have left tend to land in the third pile, and the person doing the sorting needs enough authority to delete.
Technical
Is there a platform you want the site built on, or one you want to avoid?
Why ask it
A client who names one usually has a reason: a staff member who knows it, a bad year on another, a relative's advice. Find out which, because 'my friend uses it' can be talked through and 'our booking system only works with it' cannot. No preference leaves the choice to you, so base it on who will be editing the site and tell them what each option costs to run.
Where is the domain name registered, and whose name is on the account?
Why ask it
The best answer is the business owner's own account with a login they can find. A domain held by a former employee, a relative or the last agency is the thing to sort out before design begins, since launch depends on it. Ask the registrar how a change of owner works there, because the steps and the waiting time differ.
Where is the site hosted now, and do you want to stay there?
Why ask it
Find out what they pay, when it renews and whether email or other sites sit on the same account. Staying put can be the cheap choice or the reason the site is slow. Before recommending a move, check with the current host what is included and how to leave, as contracts and notice periods vary.
Can you log in to the domain, the hosting and the current site today, or does someone else hold the passwords?
Why ask it
Have them try while you are on the call. 'I think our old developer has it' is weeks of delay waiting to happen, and far better found now than in the week of launch. Agree how access will be shared, ideally by adding you as a separate user so nobody emails a password.
Is your email on the same domain, and who looks after it?
Why ask it
Changes to a domain's settings at launch can interrupt mail if nobody checks first, and a business that loses a day of email remembers who was working on the site. Get the name of whoever runs the email and ask them how it is set up. When no one knows, look up the domain's current settings and write them down before you touch anything.
What would you like to be found for in search, and where do you show up now?
Why ask it
Have them type the phrase on the call, in more than one search engine, and see what comes up. The useful answer is a phrase a customer would type, such as a service plus a town. A wish to rank first for one broad word is the moment to explain what the build covers, what ongoing work would cost, and that no builder controls the results.
Is anything measuring visitors now, and who owns that account?
Why ask it
Ask to be added as a user on whatever exists: an analytics account, the search engines' webmaster tools, call tracking. An account opened by a past agency under its own email is common, and getting ownership moved is a job for the client to start now. With nothing installed, add the setup to the quote.
Are there web addresses in print, in ads or on other sites that have to keep working?
Why ask it
Think of a link painted on a van, a QR code on packaging, a directory entry, a page other sites link to. Each old address needs to send visitors to its new home, and that list is a deliverable to name in the quote. Few clients can list them all, so export the old site's pages yourself before anything is switched off.
Is the business listed on maps and directories, and who controls those listings?
Why ask it
For a local business the map listing can send more calls than the home page does. Check that the name, address, phone and hours match what will go on the new site, on each search engine's map and not only one. A listing claimed by someone who has left is the client's to recover, and each service has its own process, so point them to it early.
Project
Who has the final say on the design, the wording and the go-live date?
Why ask it
On a small site one owner decides all three and you are done. In a larger firm the look, the text and the launch can each belong to someone different, with a business partner, a spouse or a board behind them. Get every name now and show those people the first design, because a new voice after sign-off tends to mean a second design at the first design's price.
Is there a date the site has to be live, and what is behind it?
Why ask it
Plan backward from whatever is behind the date: a trade show, a product launch, the day the hosting contract ends. Count the weeks, then say which of their own tasks, usually content and approvals, must land by when for it to hold. When the date is only a preference, agree now that it can move if a better site needs another week.
What is your budget for building the site, and what do you expect to pay each year to keep it running?
Why ask it
Clients often budget for the build and are surprised by hosting, the domain, licenses and upkeep, so naming both figures now avoids that. A client who will not name a figure can usually react to one, so give the range your projects fall in and say what the low end leaves out. A budget well below that range is better found on this call than after you have written a proposal.
Are you getting other quotes, and what will decide it?
Why ask it
Quotes for a website are hard to compare because each one counts different things: who writes the copy, how many pages, what happens after launch. Offer to list what yours covers line by line so they can hold the others against it. When price alone will decide, that list is also your reply to a cheaper quote: ask which of the lines it includes.
How many rounds of revisions do you expect on the design before it is built?
Why ask it
Moving a button on a mockup takes minutes, and the same request after the pages are built can take a day, so tell the client where that line falls. State how many rounds your price includes and that a round is one collected list, not ten separate emails. Someone who expects to keep adjusting until launch has not yet decided what they want.
Who will be my one point of contact, and how much time can they give this each week?
Why ask it
The contact gathers content, chases colleagues and collects feedback, which is hours of work on their side. With the owner of a busy firm, agree a fixed weekly slot. With a junior member of staff, confirm they can get answers from whoever approves.
Once the site is live, who will add and change the content, and have they done it before?
Why ask it
The answer shapes the build. A client who will edit weekly needs simple templates, training and guardrails, and one who never will should not pay for an editing setup they will not open. Get the actual person's name and have them in the handover session, not only the owner.
Who will handle software updates, backups and fixes after launch: me, or someone on your side?
Why ask it
A site left alone after launch drifts: software goes out of date, forms stop sending, nobody notices. Lay out what your care plan covers and costs, and what they would need to do each month without one. If they decline, put in writing where your responsibility ends and what a one-off fix will cost.
How to run a web design discovery call
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the call
Try the site yourself first
Before you speak, use the client's current site the way a customer would, on a phone and on a laptop. Fill in the contact form, search for the business by name and by what it sells, and note what is broken. Your Current site questions will be sharper, and a client who hears that you already tried their form listens differently.
Split the list between a questionnaire and the call
Facts suit a written form: the list of pages, the software the business runs on, where the domain and hosting live, who holds each login. Motives need a conversation: why now, what is wrong, who the site is for, what it is worth. Put the first kind in a website questionnaire before the call and spend the call on the second. A form with fifty boxes gets abandoned, so keep it to what the client can look up alone.
Ask for the right people
The person who answers the phone knows what customers ask. The owner knows the money. Whoever updates the site knows what is painful about it. If only one of them can come to the call, get ten minutes with each of the others before you quote.
Bring the Business questions even to a small job
A five-page site for a local plumber still needs the first five questions on this page. They take ten minutes, and they are the difference between copying the old site into a new template and building something that brings in work.
On the call
Follow the order of the page
Business first, then the current site, then scope, content, the technical details and the project terms. A client who has no site yet skips most of Current site, though the question about past projects still applies. Money and dates go better at the end, once the client has heard that you understand what they need. If time is short, take two questions from each group before you take all of one.
Share a screen
Open their site, the competitors' sites and the sites they like while you talk. 'I want it to feel modern' becomes useful when they point at a screen and say 'like that menu, not that one'.
Look at the real thing
For visitor numbers, logins and the content they say is ready, ask to look at it together. Clients are not misleading you. They are remembering the setup as it was three years ago. A few minutes of someone trying a password while you wait can spare you a stalled launch.
Keep the client's own phrases
When the client describes their customers or their problem in a vivid way, take it down word for word and use it in the proposal's headings. A quote that says 'so parents can book a trial class without calling' is harder to turn down than one that says 'booking integration'.
End by saying what happens next
Before you hang up, say when the proposal will arrive, what you still need from them to write it, and how long the price will stand. Follow up in writing that afternoon with the main points, so both sides are working from one record of what was said.
Turning the answers into a quote
Price what was said, and list what was not
Build the quote from the Scope answers: the pages, each feature, each connection to another tool. Then add a short list of what is not included, such as copywriting, photography, translation or the shop they said might come later. The second list prevents more arguments than the first.
Give the client their own deadlines
Take the answers on content, assets and approval and turn them into dates the client owns: copy for all pages by one date, logo files and photos by another, feedback within an agreed number of working days. State that the launch date moves when those do.
Sort out access before design starts
If the Technical questions turned up a domain in someone else's name or a missing login, make recovering it the first task, and the client's to do. Waiting at the start costs you nothing. Finding out in launch week costs the date.
Know when to offer a paid discovery instead
Some calls leave the scope open: features still undecided, connections to other software nobody has checked, no figure for the budget. A fixed price at that point is a guess. Offer a small paid first stage instead, in which you map the pages, test the connections and write the specification, then quote the build from that document.
Mistakes to avoid
Starting with colors
Clients like to open with how the site should look, and it is the pleasant part of the call. Looks chosen before you know what a visitor needs to do get redone. Hold the Content and look questions until Business and Scope are answered.
Taking 'we will send the content' as a plan
Until a person and a date are attached, it is a hope. Put both in the agreement, or price the writing yourself.
Answering legal questions for the client
Privacy notices, cookie banners, accessibility standards and the terms on a shop depend on where the client operates and what they do. Ask what applies to them and who told them so, build what they specify, and recommend that their own adviser checks it. Do not paste in another site's policy.
Leaving maintenance until launch day
The week a site goes live is the worst time to discuss who looks after it. Ask the last two Project questions on the first call, so the running cost is in the budget from the start.